Tài liệu WHITE HOUSE FORUM ON JOBS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH ppt

Table of ContentsRemarks of Vice President Joe Biden 1 Remarks of President Barack Obama 5 Summary of the Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs and the Engine of Job Growth Session 9 Summar

W H I T E HOU SE F ORU M

ON JOB S A N D

E C ONOM IC GROW T H

DE CE M BE R 3 , 2 0 0 9

Table of Contents

Remarks of Vice President Joe Biden 1

Remarks of President Barack Obama 5

Summary of the Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs and the Engine of Job Growth Session 9

Summary of the Creating Jobs Through the Rebuilding of America’s Infrastructure Session 13

Summary of the Strengthening Workers and Main Street Session 19

Summary of the Innovation Agenda and Green Jobs of the Future Session 23

Summary of the Encouraging Business Investment, Competitiveness and Job Creation Session 27

Summary of the Expanding Job Opportunities for America’s Workers Through Exports Session 31

Discussion Led by President Barack Obama 35

Opening Session

Remarks of Vice President Joe Biden

Thank you.  Secretaries, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, I welcome you all here today.  Your presence is welcomed, but quite frankly, it’s not nearly as important as your input.  We’re looking to you.  We’re counting on you.  We need help, for we realize that even after all we have done in these last

10 months that—to revitalize American communities, our capacity, the government’s capacity, is still somewhat limited.  We can help—we can help create the conditions that make for a stronger economy, make a stronger economy possible.  But it’s you, all of you in this audience here, who are in the position

to make it a reality.  To put it another way, without you it will not become a reality

So our task together is obviously not an easy one.  We’ve not faced this kind of economic dilemma in the lifetime of anyone in this room.  And so building a new and invigorated platform upon which we can enter this century in a way that we can lead in the 21st century, the way we did in the 20th century,

is at rock bottom what this is all about.  No more bubbles.  No more bubbles.  You cannot sustain your world leadership based upon a housing bubble or a dot-com bubble; it’s got to be based on a really firm foundation.  I don’t have to tell you.  That’s preaching to the choir, as they say where I’m from.  I know you all understand that

Look, the Recovery Act—much maligned, but worked—has worked very well—the Recovery Act has played a vital role in kick starting this process.  It has not only pulled us back from that abyss that we were looking at—remember the—remember your college days, having to study the essayist, Samuel Johnson?  And one of the favorite quotes I remember, Mr Secretary, was “There is nothing like a hanging

to focus one’s attention.”  Well, let me tell you, your attention has been focused, our attention has been focused.  And we’ve been able to pull back from that dark abyss

My deceased wife used to have an expression.  She’d say, “The greatest gift God gave mankind, Joey,

is the ability to forget.”  And my mother would quickly add, “Yes, if it weren’t for that, all women would only have one child.”  But all kidding aside, it’s amazing—amazing what we’ve forgotten already in 10 months just how dire and bleak things looked 10 months ago

And so the Recovery Act has put us on the path to recovery, it pulled us back from the brink.  Before the President and I dropped our right hand on January the 20th of this year, already that month 700,000 people had lost their jobs; 740,000 by the end of that month lost their job; another 640,000 in the short month of February.  So the fact of the matter is the last job report was not good, but a lot better—190,000 jobs lost.  Our economy was shrinking when we took office at a rate of 6 percent, actually above 6 per-cent.  And now it’s growing at a rate at about 3 percent the last quarter.  And leading economists attribute

a large portion of that GDP growth in the last quarter to the Recovery Act

And according to the most CBO report—and if you’ve noticed, the one thing those of you who aren’t—

do not work here every day notice the only thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is the objectivity

of CBO.  We all quote their numbers, and we quote them even when they don’t agree with what we wanted to do, because they are bipartisan; they are responsible.  And the CBO report, the most recent

report of several days ago, said the act is responsible for creating as many as 1.6 million jobs.  A couple

of my friends on the Hill wrote me a note saying, “Joe, stop quoting that the act created over 600,000

jobs.”  I wrote back and said, “I promise I’ll do that if you start saying it created 1.6 million jobs.”  But the

point is it has created jobs. 

So there’s been progress.  But you know it’s not enough.  That laid-off teacher—that laid off teacher,

they don’t want to hear about the GDP.  That out of work autoworker or that Teamster, they don’t want

to hear about a CBO report.  There used to be an expression, and I’m not joking, my grandfather always

used it.  He was from Scranton, Pennsylvania.  He said, “When the guy from Throop is out of work, it’s an

economic slowdown.  When your brother-in-law is out of work, it’s a recession.  When you’re out of work,

it’s a depression.”  And it is a depression for over 10 million Americans, which is why I’m pleased that the

next phase of this Recovery Act—we are only about halfway through it—we’re entering even at a more

rapid rate, we’re distributing these dollars even quicker, projects are getting in the ground faster, and

we’re spending—and a particular focus on those aspects that have proven successful in creating jobs,

putting real paychecks in the pockets of hardworking Americans. 

And by design, the items in the act which have the biggest impact are yet to come.  Within the next

two weeks to a month, another roughly $13 billion is going to be announced rolling out in terms of

both investments in broadband and high-speed rail, and competitive education and infrastructure.  In

fact, the money spent on clean water, renewable energy, superfund sites, and much more, is going to

more than double—it’s going to more than double in this quarter and will maintain a similar pace for

the next two quarters

So tomorrow, for example, Secretary LaHood—who is here—is going to be making an important

announcement about the number of high-speed rail manufacturers who are looking to come to the

United States, build facilities here, manufacture components here, manufacture train sets here based on

our willingness to provide the seed money to invest in high-speed rail.  And many more announcements

like that are coming in the months ahead.  But we’re not just looking to bold new programs.  Many of

the upcoming investments are expansions of our most successful programs to date.  And that’s where

you all come in. 

At today’s job summit, we’re all hearing—we’ll be hearing about ideas—ideas that can do even more

than we’ve done so far.  Some of you will urge us to invest more in infrastructure—roads, bridges, water

projects.  We’ve seen this investment succeed in creating jobs in the Recovery Act.  And today, we’ll hear

the case for doing more along those lines

Others of you today are going to argue that we should invest in green jobs, retrofitting, weatherizing,

making homes and offices more energy efficient.  Again, we’ve seen that these investments can be

suc-cessful in creating jobs.  And today we’ll hear the case for doing more along those lines, I suspect as well. 

And still others of you will talk about the need for more incentives for small businesses and our other

ideas to help business through tax incentives.  And again, similar investments in the Recovery Act are

showing some real promise.  So we should see if there’s more we can do in those areas

RemaRks of ViCe PResidenT Joe Biden

Many different participants are going to—are here, and many different offerings are going to be put forward, many different ideas.  But in the end, the grist is the same:  take the things that we know work, and make them work better and make them work faster.  And all of this can’t be done—I should put it another way:  None of it can be done without your full buy-in and your leadership in the private sector.President Obama has focused on this issue with an intensity that it demands, and with an intensity it deserves.  With everything else he has on his plate—and I’ve been here for eight Presidents—I think I can say without fear of contradiction, no President has ever entered office with as many crises sitting on his desk the day he walked into office.  And I’ve been here for eight Presidents as a United States senator.But notwithstanding that, his laser focus has been—and the economic team can tell you, every morning

we have the meeting relating to the principles on the economy, the principals in the economic team coming in, it’s what we call the Presidential Daily Briefing, is jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. 

And so, folks, we not only want to create jobs, but good jobs, jobs you can raise a family on, jobs that will service a foundation for a new economic future in this country.  And no man is more committed to making that happen than President Barack Obama. 

Opening Session

Remarks of President Barack obama

Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you very much.  Please, have a seat.  Good afternoon, body.  I’m glad you all could join us today for this job forum here at the White House.  We’ve got leaders from just about every sector of the economy—government, labor, academia, non-profits, and businesses

every-of all sizes.  And I know that your unions or universities or cities or companies don’t run themselves, so

I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to be here today.  And I appreciate the unique perspective each

of you brings to the great economic challenge before us:  the continuing plight of millions of Americans who are still out of work

Sometimes in this town, we talk about these things in clinical and academic ways.  But this is not an academic debate.  With one in 10 Americans out of work, and millions more underemployed, not hav-ing enough hours to support themselves, this is a struggle that cuts deep, and it touches people across this nation.  Every day I meet people or I hear from people who talk about sending out resume after resume, and they’ve been on the job hunt for a year or year and a half and still can’t find anything and are desperate.  They haven’t just lost the paycheck they need to live; they’re losing the sense of dignity and identity that comes from having a job.  I hear from business owners who face the heartbreak of having to lay off longtime employees, or shutting their doors altogether—in some cases businesses that they’ve taken years to build; in some cases businesses that they inherited from their parents or their grandparents.  And I see communities devastated by lost jobs and devastated by the fear that those jobs are never coming back

Now, as Joe mentioned, it’s true that we’ve seen a significant turnaround in the economy overall since the beginning of the year.  Our economy was in a freefall; our financial system was on the verge of col-lapse; we were losing 700,000 jobs per month.  And it was clear then that our first order of business was

to keep a recession from slipping into a depression; from preventing financial meltdown and getting the economy growing again—because we knew that without economic growth, there would be little

to nothing we could do to stem job losses.  And we knew that trying to create jobs in an economy based

on inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards and overleveraged banks was akin to building a house on sand

So we implemented plans to stabilize the financial system and revive lending to families and businesses. 

We passed the Recovery Act, which stopped our freefall and help spur the growth that we’ve seen.  Today, our economy is growing again for the first time in a year and at the fastest pace that we’ve seen in two years.  And productivity is surging.  Companies are reporting profits.  The stock market is up

But despite the progress we’ve made, many businesses are still skittish about hiring.  Some are still digging themselves out of the losses they incurred over the past year.  Many have figured out how to squeeze more productivity out of fewer workers, and that cost-cutting has become embedded in their operations and in their culture.  That may result in good profits, but it’s not translating into hiring.  And

so that’s the question that we have to ask ourselves today:  How do we get businesses to start hiring

again?  How do we get ourselves to the point where more people are working, and more people are

spending, and you start seeing a virtuous cycle and the recovery starts to feed on itself?

We knew from the outset of this recession, particularly a recession of this severity and a recession that

is spurred on by financial crisis rather than as a consequence of the business cycle, that it would take

time for job growth to catch up with economic growth.  We all understood that.  That’s always been the

case with recessions.  But we cannot hang back and hope for the best when we’ve seen the kinds of job

losses that we’ve seen over the last year.  I am not interested in taking a wait-and-see approach when

it comes to creating jobs

What I’m interested in is taking action right now to help businesses create jobs right now, in the near

term.  That’s why we made more credit available to small banks that provide loans to small businesses. 

That’s why we provided tax relief to help small businesses stay afloat and proposed raising SBA loan

limits to help them expand.  That’s why we created the Cash for Clunkers program, and made sure the

Recovery Act included investments that would start saving and creating jobs this year—as Joe

men-tioned, as many as 1.6 [million] so far is estimated, according to the most recent analysis.  And that’s

why I’ve been working continuously with my economic advisors, as well as congressional leaders and

others, on new job creation ideas.  And I’ll be speaking in greater detail about several ideas that have

already surfaced early next week

But I want to be clear—while I believe that government has a critical role in creating the conditions for

economic growth, ultimately true economic recovery is only going to come from the private sector.  We

don’t have enough public dollars to fill the hole of private dollars that was created as a consequence

of the crisis.  It is only when the private sector starts to reinvest again, only when our businesses start

hiring again and people start spending again and families start seeing improvement in their own lives

again that we’re going to have the kind of economy that we want.  That’s the measure of a real economic

recovery

So that’s why I’ve invited all of you here today.  Many of you run businesses yourselves.  Each of you is an

expert on some aspect of job creation.  Collectively, your views span the spectrum.  That was deliberate. 

We’ve looking for fresh perspectives and new ideas

I want to hear about what unions and universities can do to better support and prepare our workers—

not just for the jobs of today, but for the jobs five years from now and 10 years from now and 50 years

from now.  I want to hear about what mayors and community leaders can do to bring new investment

to our cities and towns and help recovery dollars get to where they need to go as quickly as possible.  I

want to hear from CEOs about what’s holding back our business investment and how we can increase

confidence and spur hiring.  And if there are things that we’re doing here in Washington that are

inhibit-ing you, then we want to know about it. 

And I want to continue this conversation outside of Washington, which is why I’ll be meeting with some

of the small business owners that you saw in the video in Allentown, Pennsylvania, tomorrow, to get their

ideas.  It’s also why we’ve asked state and local officials and community organizations to hold their own

jobs forums over the next week or so and to report back with the ideas and recommendations that result

RemaRks of PResidenT BaRaCk oBama

Now, let me be clear.  I am open to every demonstrably good idea, and I want to take every responsible step to accelerate job creation.  We also, though, have to face the fact that our resources are limited.  When we walked in, there was an enormous fiscal gap between the money that is going out and the money coming in.  The recession has made that worse because of fewer tax receipts and more demands made on government for things like unemployment insurance. 

So we can’t make any ill-considered decisions right now, even with the best of intentions.  We’re going

to have to be surgical and we’re going to have to be creative.  We’re going to have to be smart and tegic.  We’ll need to look beyond the old standbys and fallbacks and come up with the best ideas that give us the biggest bang for the buck. 

stra-So I need everybody here to bring their A-game here today.  I’m going to be asking some tough tions.  I will be listening for some good answers.  And I don’t want to just brainstorm up at 30,000 feet.  I want details in our discussion today.  I’m looking for specific recommendations that can be implemented that will spur on job growth as quickly as possible

ques-I want to be clear:  We won’t overcome our unemployment challenge in just a few hours this afternoon. 

I assure you there is extraordinary skepticism that any discussions like this can actually produce results.  I’m well aware of that.  I don’t mind skepticism.  If I listened to the skeptics, I wouldn’t be here. 

But I am confident that we’ll make progress.  I’m confident that people like you, who’ve built thriving businesses or revolutionized industries or brought cities and communities together and changed the way we look at the world and innovated and created new products, that you can come up with some additional good ideas on how to create jobs.  And I’m confident that the spirit of “bold, persistent experi-mentation” that FDR talked about and that’s gotten this country through some of our darkest hours remains alive and well—not just in this room, but all across the country. 

We still have the best universities in the world.  We’ve got some of the finest science and technology in the world, we’ve got the most entrepreneurial spirit in the world, and we’ve got some of the most pro-ductive workers in the world.  And if we get serious, then the 21st century is going to be the American century, just like the 20th century was.  But we’re going to have to approach this with a sense of serious-ness and try to set the politics and the chatter aside for a while and actually get to work

So, welcome.  Thank you for participating.  We are going to maximize the productivity of this effort over the next several hours.  And I will be returning back with you so that I can get a report on what kinds of ideas seem to make the most sense.  Thank you very much, everybody. 

Jobs Discussions

summary of the small Businesses and entrepreneurs

and the engine of Job growth session

• The group discussed unique challenges and the ways in which government could interject

to provide assistance There was a discussion of different tax policies that could help support small business growth, such as a new jobs tax credit

Ed Pawlowski, (Mayor of Allentown, PA), Rodney Rodrigue (Timewise Management Systems), Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Carl Schramm (Kauffman Foundation), Sheryl Schwartz (Blue Canopy Group, LLC), Angie Selden (Arise Virtual Solutions Inc.), Joseph Stiglitz, (Columbia), Jesse Turner (Tri-State Bank, Memphis), Rose Wang (Binary Group)

DETAILED SUMMARY

Overarching Issue: How to increase the availability of credit and capital for small businesses?

The first major topic of discussion was the availability of capital for small businesses, and by extension, the ability of lending institutions to provide credit

• Woody Hall commented that his organization was having difficulty obtaining conventional

financing, despite having a stellar repayment record He suggested that the government needed

to address what he viewed as unfairness within the current models of lending For instance,

assets are currently marked to market, and companies are lending against those assets However,

when asset prices fall due to market volatility, banks consider companies to be in default

•

• Jessie Turner noted that big banks in Memphis are calling in their loans to small businesses

These businesses in turn are in turn seeking loans that are too big for the smaller banks to

pro-vide He suggested that more TARP money go to small banks

•

• Eric Schmidt provided a birds-eye view of the obstacles facing the small businesses that interface

with Google In particular, he stressed that many of the small medium enterprise’s were being

denied credit and the business owners are not clear as to why they are not able to get access to

capital Moreover, these small business owners do not know how to access financing beyond

their traditional outlets, and are therefore scaling back their online expansion plans

•

• Joseph Stiglitz provided the latest data point that over 50 percent of small businesses are unable

to get credit and are cutting back hiring as a result Professor Stiglitz suggested that the

gov-ernment should contemplate setting up small banks for the explicit purpose of making loans

to small businesses In addition, he put forth the idea that banks—those that accepted TARP

funds in particular—should be required to have a certain segment of their portfolio dedicated

to lending to small businesses Lastly, he noted that Community Reinvestment Act lending

quality was very high, and should be expanded

•

• Zoar Fulwider talked about the difficulties in obtaining financing and how the Recovery Act has

really helped him out He is now funding projects via Recovery Act funds

•

• William Hite spoke about how some of his members are not able to receive loans or working

lines of credit He also called for the administration to put a stop to foreign workers coming to

the United States to do construction work that domestic workers are willing and able to do

Overarching Issue: How to make the regulatory environment work for small business?

Several participants discussed the regulatory environment and how it was stifling small business growth

as well as restricting the ability of financial institutions to provide loans to small business

•

• David Barber noted that compliance with regulations has a disproportionate and adverse

impact on small businesses He highlighted potential United States Department of Agriculture

(USDA) regulations that would be burdensome on his company, Barber Foods He called for the

administration to better assess the impact of regulations and the cost of compliance for small

businesses

•

• Dorothy Bridges observed that community banks are small businesses, and that they too are

suffering from regulatory burden She suggested that more of the Community Development

Financial Institutions (CDFI) should be allowed to take advantage of TARP money Additionally,

she suggested that the small bank loans should be given a higher risk weight

summaRy of The small Businesses and enTRePReneuRs and The engine of JoB gRowTh session

•

• Jesse Turner recommended that more TARP money go to small banks and said that the tory loan to value ratios are too strict

regula-Overarching Issue: The Small Business Administration and policy

Many participants also commented on the role of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and how it can modify some of its policies to serve the different types of small businesses

•

• Diana Aviv posited that many non-profits are being asked by states and local governments to provide services under contract Governments, however, are slow and often times delayed in making payments to vendors Non-profits do not have working capital, so a delay in payment results in closing operations or the laying off of staff SBA loans, she feels, should be made avail-able to qualified non-profits that do not have working lines of credit

•

• Woody Hall indicated that the SBA loans need to be larger, and Eric Schmidt said that the SBA needs to do a better job of educating small businesses about how to obtain loans and technical services Jessie Turner suggested that the SBA bring back lowdoc loans

Overarching Issue: Unique challenges and government assistance

The participants also identified unique policy issues that have restricted their growth, and suggested ways the government could be instrumental in surmounting those challenges

•

• Angie Seldon highlighted her company’s ability to employ 15,000 people in the customer service and HR industry The employees of Arise work from home, and many do the same jobs that corporations are currently sending off-shore Angie suggested that the government could facilitate more “home-shoring” by providing a 1-year tax incentive to corporations that hire domestic employees Additionally, she suggested that more jobs could be created through increased technological interconnectivity She specifically emphasized the benefits of building out the last mile of broadband

•

• Carl Schramm described how a large number of post doctoral students are not currently receiving funding to commercialize many of the ideas they cultivated in their post-graduate studies He suggested that a new fellowship be developed to fund post-doctoral students to start companies based on their research He also noted that current immigration policy enables foreign venture capitalists to come into the United States with ease He emphasized that instead

of venture capitalists, immigration policy needs to be directed at facilitating the entrance of

entrepreneurs who can start companies He also suggested providing a payroll tax holiday for

new and young companies

•

• Joe Stiglitz countered that a payroll tax approach is inefficient and has an adverse impact on

social security—that a new jobs tax credit would be more effective

• Participants offered many ideas on how to increase the speed and effectiveness of federal structure spending, including ways to streamline permitting processes and improve account-ability There was general agreement on the importance of leveraging private investment and working with state and local governments Participants also discussed linking infrastructure investment to job training in economically distressed communities

infra-•

• Participants expressed praise for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Recovery Act grant program and generally supported increasing TIGER funding There were mixed views on a National Infrastructure Bank Proponents argued that it would improve project selection and financing of infrastructure projects, while critics expressed skepticism about the need for alternative financing and concern about the focus on new assets versus maintenance

•

• Participants offered different opinions about who should pay for infrastructure investments, with some arguing that users should pay for system improvements and others arguing that taxpayers should pay since benefits extend beyond users

DETAILED SUMMARY

Overarching Issue: What have been the challenges and successes of Recovery Act infrastructure

spend-ing? What lessons can we learn?

One major topic of discussion was the status of Recovery Act infrastructure spending and the prospect

for additional infrastructure spending to create jobs

•

• Paula Hammond, who leads the Washington State Department of Transportation, reported

that her state has met and exceeded all goals for obligating Recovery Act infrastructure dollars,

creating millions of hours of work through highway and transit investment She argued that the

states are ready for the next infusion of infrastructure dollars, with thousands of projects worth

billions of dollars ready to go

•

• Doug Holtz-Eakin expressed skepticism that infrastructure funds can be both spent quickly and

targeted effectively He argued that the appropriate time frame for infrastructure investment

is the medium- to long-term, rather than as short-term stimulus, and that projects should be

selected based on merit, with more emphasis on goals like metropolitan mobility and return

on investment

Several participants supported additional infrastructure investment and noted ways to improve its

job-creating potential

•

• Steve Heminger noted that permit processing time and other project approval steps take too

long and drive up project cost He suggested devoting a certain amount of infrastructure funds

to helping permitting agencies increase capacity and process permits more quickly

•

• Peter Darbee recommended that the federal government adopt accountability measures, as

California has done at the state level In particular, he recommended having a person or entity

at the federal level responsible for holding agencies accountable for meeting deadlines and

staying within budget In partnership with state and local agencies, the entity would set timing

and budget targets and review best practices

•

• Frank Cownie, the Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, provided a local perspective, stating that current

processing and approval times delay good projects

•

• Doug Pitcock agreed that there are challenges in getting money to move but said that

stream-lining permitting processes and environmental review could improve the system

•

• Robert Kuttner advocated creating a permanent list of stand-by, ready-to-go projects that the

federal government could fund in times of high unemployment Such a system, he said, would

help deploy infrastructure funds quickly during the next economic downturn

Other participants emphasized the importance of leveraging private investment

•

• Chandra Brown reported that streetcar construction in Portland, Oregon, has not only created

many jobs but has also attracted private investment and leveraged federal dollars by 20 times

•

• Dan DiMicco similarly emphasized the importance of private investment

summaRy of The CReaTing JoBs ThRough The ReBuilding of ameRiCa’s infRasTRuCTuRe session

•

• Mark Ayers noted that while there is private money available to support training, any significant training effort will require more funding for projects He also emphasized the importance of labor standards

•

• Peter Darbee shared PG&E’s experience helping to design community college curriculums in California and mentoring community college and high school students so that they could take the right classes, make informed career decisions, and successfully enter the workforce Paula Hammond described the Washington DOT’s participation in apprenticeship programs and efforts to get jobs to economically distressed communities

•

• Robert Kuttner seconded the importance of training and education in creating long-term growth He proposed providing community college students with a living stipend to make it more likely that they could complete their degrees

Overarching Issue: Which existing or proposed programs show the most promise for accelerating the economic recovery and improving infrastructure financing?

Participants expressed great enthusiasm for the TIGER competitive grant program, a $1.5 billion program established by the Recovery Act that selects projects across modes on a merit basis It has received over

•

• Rob Puentes agreed that TIGER has unleashed innovation

There was also significant discussion surrounding proposals for National Infrastructure Bank, with some participants emphasizing the potential for a merit-based selection process and others emphasizing new financing mechanisms

•

• Mort Zuckerman expressed strong support for an Infrastructure Bank that would take ture investment decisions out of the political process and select projects based on merit He also

infrastruc-believed that an Infrastructure Bank could leverage any federal capital investment through the

issuance of debt on capital markets

•

• Robert Puentes also argued that an Infrastructure Bank could yield benefits by funding projects

of national or regional significance that are neglected by the current system

•

• Doug Holtz-Eakin expressed skepticism about the need for new financing mechanisms, such

an Infrastructure Bank that issues debt securities, arguing that infrastructure projects already

have the necessary access to credit markets

•

• Reed Hundt recommended the immediate establishment of a “Green Bank” to promote clean

energy investment and create jobs Under Hundt’s proposal, the Green Bank would prioritize

job creation in areas with the highest unemployment during its first three years

•

• Angela Glover Blackwell urged that an Infrastructure Bank include a job training fund and target

communities most in need

•

• Paula Hammond emphasized that many rural states, such as Washington State, have vast stocks

of existing infrastructure assets that need to be maintained and that an Infrastructure Bank

should fund such maintenance rather than just new asset construction

Overarching Issue: What are other infrastructure goals and economic recovery efforts to consider?

Participants also voiced opinions on other types of infrastructure, such as aviation and broadband, and

discussed infrastructure goals like congestion reduction

•

• Gerard Arpey made a case for federal investment in aircraft avionics, arguing that aviation

infra-structure investment is necessary for a robust economy He called for the federal government

to accelerate implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System, a GPS-enabled

air traffic control system that is expected to reduce flight delays and improve safety

•

• Doug Holtz-Eakin and Dan DiMicco countered that aircraft operators and passengers, rather

than taxpayers, should pay for onboard avionics since they benefit from system improvements

This underscored the theme that “user pays” financing structures for new infrastructure

invest-ments ought to be explored

•

• Larry Cohen argued that the United States is falling behind other countries in broadband

invest-ment He urged the federal government to set ambitious goals like 100 Mbps upstream and

downstream, to invest in broadband in both urban and rural America, and to establish a digital

mentorship program that would create jobs and generate demand for broadband

•

• Charles Whittington called for efforts to alleviate congestion in the nation’s metropolitan areas

He argued that congestion mitigation could improve the reliability of shipping and save billions

of dollars each year

•

• Ed Wytkind called for broad investment in various infrastructure modes, including FAA

reautho-rization and NextGen, transit operating expenditures, high-speed rail, and port maintenance

summaRy of The CReaTing JoBs ThRough The ReBuilding of ameRiCa’s infRasTRuCTuRe session

Jobs Discussions

summary of the strengthening workers

and main street session

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

•

• Participants generally agreed that short-term measures to help workers find jobs should be coupled with long-term strategies to promote workforce development, such as improve- ments in the education and training systems Participants noted that the recession has affected disadvantaged workers severely and suggested reforms in training and welfare programs to target resources to these workers There was also agreement about the need

to strengthen relationships between employers and training providers

•

• There was agreement that the Recovery Act has helped prevent cuts in the state and local workforce, including teachers and public safety workers Some participants called for more aid to states and localities to help them retain workers as the economy recovers

•

• Several participants noted that some amount of post-secondary education is now often

a prerequisite for a good job, but that four-year degrees may not be essential A number spoke in favor of the American Graduation Initiative, which is the President’s plan to invest

$12 billion over the next decade in community colleges

•

• Many participants suggested ways to reform job training and expressed concern that rent siloed funding streams are inhibiting the effectiveness of job training Ideas included consolidating funding streams, creating an innovation fund for training, and targeting more training money directly to local governments

& Progressive Policy Institute), Robert Reich (Berkeley), Ken Rogers (Automation Alley), Matthew

(Service Employees International Union), Ashley Swearengin (Mayor of Fresno, CA), Andy Van

Kleunen (Workforce Alliance), Randi Weingarten (American Federation of Teachers)

DETAILED SUMMARY

Overarching Issue: How has the recession affected the American workforce and how effective has the

Recovery Act been in mitigating those effects?

Short-term vs long-term strategies were discussed in relation to the American workforce

•

• Andy Van Kleunen noted the existence of structural challenges in our economy that will outlast

this recession, including a lack of skills among a substantial share of the workforce Short-term

skill-building strategies like on-the-job training, he said, have to be coupled with a broader

commitment to improve our education and training system and ensure that people have the

industry-recognized credentials they need to succeed in the workplace

•

• Randy Johnson also spoke in favor of the short-term strategy of expanded on-the-job training

opportunities and wage subsidies

Several participants noted the particular challenges that low-skilled workers are facing right now and

ways in which they are disadvantaged

•

• Penny Pritzker observed that the recession has hit the least-educated, least-skilled particularly

hard

•

• Rob Carmona urged that the American Graduation Initiative, the President’s plan to invest $12

billion over the next decade in community colleges, be designed to require the involvement

of community-based organizations, so that it can bring in students who might otherwise be

left behind He pointed out that fewer than 30 percent of Americans go to college Carmona

also noted that one of the largest public investments in the workforce is through TANF, which

he said was designed in a flawed manner, to favor “a bad job today” over “training for a better

job tomorrow.”

•

• Reverend Luis Cortes stressed the need to address literacy issues and noted that it is a major

factor in the high community college drop-out rate

There was a good discussion on issues affecting, and strategies surrounding, the development of the

State and local workforce

•

• Bob Greenstein laid out the serious fiscal challenges that states and localities will continue

to face in the coming year and beyond He noted that this year state budget deficits grew to

26 percent of the total state operating budgets, which is equivalent to the federal government

having a 7-8 trillion dollar deficit which it would be constitutionally required to close by the end

of the year States have offset these deficits by spending money saved in rainy day funds, but

these funds no longer remain Without further relief Greenstein said the economy could expect

to lose another 900,000 jobs He and others recommended another infusion of federal resources

to prevent cuts in services and job losses among teachers, law enforcement officers, and others

summaRy of The sTRengThening woRkeRs and main sTReeT session

•

• County Executive Burrell Ellis described the impact that Recovery Act has had on local ments, including in keeping public-private partnerships going in his community He said that communities need not just incentives, but also Government pressure on local governments and corporations to spur on development

govern-Overarching Issue: Which workforce development strategies and reforms are most effective?

One strategy that was discussed was improving and strengthening the relationship between training providers and employers

•

• Rodney Rodriguez described an eight month training program for entry-level manufacturing jobs that has been successful in placing workers with a high school degree or less in good-paying jobs, while also meeting the needs of small manufacturers who don’t have the resources to develop their own training program Rodriguez said that by negotiating jobs with manufacturers

in advance of training it is possible to attain a 92 percent placement rate after only 4 weeks of training The government’s investment in this training would cost $6,900 per person and could

be recouped within 4 months

•

• Randall Stephenson described a partnership with San Antonio Community College to provide three weeks of remedial training to people who had been hired to work in a new center that was part of an AT&T project to bring jobs back from India

The role of post-secondary education was a significant part of the discussion

•

• Several participants noted that some amount of post-secondary education is now often a requisite for a good job, but that four-year degrees often aren’t essential A number spoke in favor of the American Graduation Initiative

pre-•

• Bruce Reed urged taking the initiative one step further, and providing states with the resources necessary to “take all comers,” along with a ramped-up work-study program to add a jobs com-ponent to their education He also suggested changing Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines which currently prevent the creation of new mortgage coun-seling agencies with HUD money

There was consensus among many participants that there is a need for job training reform.

•

• Donna Klein suggested creating an innovation fund within the Workforce Investment Act to

help scale up good ideas and programs

•

• Andy Van Kleunen urged action to align federal investments so that it’s easier for workers to get

on a career path and easier for employers to interact with the system

•

• Reverend Luis Cortes, whose organization runs a one-stop career center, expressed concern

about the lack of alignment between the multiple government silos and funding streams, as

well as the sometimes unrealistic expectations he felt the current system imposes on employers

•

• Mayor Ashley Swearengin stressed the importance of directing federal money to the local

level Fresno has 181 shovel ready projects waiting to be implemented providing they obtain

government money She also suggested expanding the income test for title 1 dollars, reforming

the federal calculations for mass unemployment to include agricultural workers, and urged the

continuation of the summer youth program

The group noted the need for filling other skill gaps

•

• Barry Rand discussed training for nurses, to help meet an important societal need He also noted

that many countries such as China and India have seen a doubling or tripling of wage costs He

proposed creating incentives for companies to reclaim jobs that have been outsourced to these

countries, particularly in service jobs and call centers

•

• Noel Cuellar suggested that workers of all education levels should receive financial education

to help them understand the economics of running a business, so that they can contribute on

the job to meeting the challenge of staying competitive globally